Filing Alert: LIV Golf Chapter 11

LIV Golf New Jersey LLC, a West Trenton, NJ-based professional golf tour, filed for Chapter 11 protection on September 08, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court...

LIV Golf New Jersey LLC and its debtor affiliates⁽¹⁾, a West Trenton, NJ-based professional golf tour, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sep. 8 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

The Company attributes the filing to sustained operating losses and the withdrawal of its sole source of capital. LIV Golf financed operations entirely through equity infusions from entities controlled by The Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ("PIF"), which have invested approximately $5 billion since the League's 2021 inception.

On April 30, 2026, PIF announced it would cease equity infusions, citing that the substantial investment LIV Golf required over a longer term no longer fit the current phase of its investment strategy, and would fund only the remainder of the 2026 season, on a secured basis. That funding became the June 4, 2026 PIF Facility, of which not less than $495 million in principal remained outstanding as of the Petition Date. The Debtors entered the cases with approximately $15 million of cash, substantially all of it PIF's cash collateral.

Cost reductions followed, including the cancellation of the Michigan and New Orleans tournaments. On or about Sept. 1, 2026 in the U.S. and Sept. 3, 2026 in the U.K., the Company effected a reduction in force that terminated approximately 289 employees and furloughed approximately 22, leaving 41 remaining. The Debtors also ran a marketing process through Ducera Partners, which reached over 300 potential investors, of which 104 executed NDAs and approximately 30 conducted detailed diligence; two non-binding term sheets arrived by the July 22, 2026 bid deadline, and the bid of BC Partners Advisors L.P. — anchoring a $300 million investment in a new operating model ("LIV 2.0") contingent on consummation of a Chapter 11 plan — was determined to be the best and most viable.

The cases are engineered around a single going-concern transaction with a compressed toggle. PIF, the Debtors' only prepetition secured lender and also the sole DIP Lender, agreed to provide up to $49.6 million in new money at a fixed 12% PIK, maturing no later than 120 days after the Petition Date, of which $14 million is available on an interim basis with the balance as a delayed draw following entry of the Final Order. The facility also rolls up prepetition obligations dollar-for-dollar with each new money tranche.

Under the RSA executed with BC Partners on the Petition Date, new investors would put $300 million into LIV Golf, Incorporated across three instruments: a $127.5 million first lien term loan, $147.5 million of senior preferred, and $25 million of subordinated convertible preferred. Each carries equity participation — penny warrants for 5.00% and 10.00% of common on the term loan and senior preferred respectively, and conversion into 30.00% on the convertible — and BC Partners affiliated funds and co-investors would supply up to $150 million of the total.

Post-emergence, the Players, whose contracts constitute the bulk of the Debtors' unsecured debt, would take 52.50% of common equity, with new investors holding 45.00% and management 2.50%. That split is driven by taxes: LIV Golf Incorporated held approximately $3.0 billion of net operating losses as of Dec. 31, 2025 — the Debtors' most valuable asset — but those losses survive a change of ownership only if creditors, rather than new investors, end up holding the majority of the reorganized company. PIF would receive nothing on its prepetition claims: its funded debt and equity are cancelled in exchange for releases, with the Debtors' releases of PIF subject to the independent committee's investigation.

Players agreeing to play in LIV 2.0 would also receive amended contracts, signing bonuses and the return of certain name, image and likeness rights. A 3% break fee, payable solely from the proceeds of an alternative transaction, is reserved for BC Partners, which would separately provide a $30 million DIP for start-up costs of LIV 2.0 that refinances dollar-for-dollar into the exit term loan.

The company reports $100 million to $500 million in assets and $500 million to $1 billion in liabilities. The filing indicates that there will be funds available for distribution to unsecured creditors. The case number is 26-20189.

⁽¹⁾ For a complete list of debtor entities, see the Chapter 11 Debtors table.

Chapter 11 Debtors

Affiliated Debtors Chart
Source: Bondoro, Court filings

Top Unsecured Claims

Form 204 Top Unsecured Claims
Source: Bondoro, Court filings

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